The White House dismissed the latest fiscal proposal offered by Republicans who control the House of Representatives today, calling it a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party conservatives and announced a meeting to be held at 3:15 p.m. ET between
President Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, and other House Democratic leaders.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that negotiations in the Senate are making progress toward ending a fiscal impasse but «we’re far from a deal at this point.»
With time running out until a Thursday deadline to raise the US debt ceiling or face a debt default, the White House was hopeful the Senate would provide a path out of the crisis.
«We’re encouraged by the progress that we’ve seen in the Senate, but we’re far from a deal at this point,» Carney told reporters.
Earlier, House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, proposed an alternative to a Senate plan that would affect Obama’s signature healthcare law.
White House spokesman Amy Brundage said Obama has vowed repeatedly that lawmakers «don’t get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation’s bills.»
«Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place,» she said.
Brundage said Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a good-faith effort to end the fiscal stalemate and «it’s time for the House to do the same.»
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